Which Proteins To Put Into Rotation?

[Misprints]

Hi, all!

It’s been about a few weeks since I’ve been feeding Rollo homemade food with EZComplete and we’re both loving it! I’ve been thinking of introducing a new protein in about two weeks or so and have a few questions. Rollo is a nearly five month old Ragdoll, if that mans a difference.

• I was thinking of feeding chicken, turkey, and beef. Should I switch out one of the poultries for rabbit or another protein?
• For poultry: Should I feed a mix of breast and thigh? I’m currently feeding thigh meat only, with some batches containing skin and some not.
• Which cuts of beef are best for a kitten?
• How often should I rotate after the transition period? Daily? Weekly? Per meal?

Thank you all in advance! I apologize if these are basic questions, but I’m still very much a raw/homemade newbie and want to make sure that I’m doing right by my furball.

 

[dhammagirl]

I’d ditch the beef and add rabbit.
Rabbit is usually a hit with kitties, and is a mammal that they could, and can, actually catch and eat on their own, unlike a cow.

 

[lalagimp]

You are All In, aren't you?
Whew.
Then you asked what cut of beef, and I'm

Fresh meat is more key. orange&white does a heavy rotation, but it depends on what the special is that week. Chuck roasts, pork roasts, loins, poultry, all kinda of different cuts of everything.

Fat or lean isn't a concern while he's still growing and developing everything.
If you want him to have steak, sure, feed him steak. I can't swing that personally, but chuck steak or porterhouse isn't going to hurt anything as long as it's fresh.

With my boys being on raw we put together at home, I have had them on rabbit and turkey for over 2 years, and you can smell when the turkey isn't fresh. The cats may not mind, but it shouldn't have had a smell like that when I ordered it from Whole Foods. I get my turkey usually partially frozen right off the truck at Shoppers ever since, and try to make sure there is at least 5 days left on the label before I freeze it until I'm ready. I think twice I've had a problem getting turkey so I put chicken in with their rabbit.

 

[kittyluv387]

I believe EZ complete uses chicken liver? So it's not truly a single protein when you use it. That's why I get my own livers and use alnutrin. But that being said I do chicken turkey and rabbit. Some kitties don't do well on red meat since it's not natural for them to eat.

 

[Tobermory]

I rotate chicken, turkey, and rabbit. Chicken is their favorite, so I make more of that (plus rabbit is very pricey). My three get two chicken meals, then a turkey or a rabbit. I don’t think it makes a bit of difference how you rotate them...unless your kitty cares.

I would occasionally feed beef or pork, too, but one of mine refuses to eat either.

In case it’s helpful, here’s some info on cuts of meat. Apologies to whomever I borrowed this from; I neglected to note the source when I saved it.

Pork butt, often very cheap and very fatty. You might want to mix pork butt with gizzards or chicken breast to lower the fat.

Pork loin chops are very lean. You can add a little fatty meat, like chicken thighs with the skin.

Beef brisket is usually the cheapest beef, particularly around Memorial Day and July 4th. It's also the highest fat cut of beef, so I’d use it sparingly and cut with it chicken breast, gizzards and/or leaner beef cuts.

Eye of round roast is the leanest beef. You could use a little chicken with skin or combine with brisket.

Also with beef, the grade usually indicates fat content: Select beef is usually low fat, Choice has a little more fat running through the meat, and Prime beef is usually well-marbled with fat. So what we humans like, Prime beef, is most expensive because all the fat tenderizes the meat and adds flavor. Select meat is tougher, chewier, leaner and cheaper...great for kitties!​

 

[orange&white]

You are All In, aren't you?
Whew.
Then you asked what cut of beef, and I'm

Fresh meat is more key. orange&white does a heavy rotation, but it depends on what the special is that week. Chuck roasts, pork roasts, loins, poultry, all kinda of different cuts of everything.

Congrats on the raw diet transition!

Yes, my 3 cats (and dog) are on the "What's on sale" diet rotation. Chicken dark meat is always $1/lb. I'll buy breasts when on sale at $1/lb. Pork butt often runs at $1/lb and occasionally pork loin at the same price. Lean beef like London Broil and eye of round run at $3/lb and fattier chuck roasts also at $3/lb.

I've been making a base mix of chicken hearts, gizzards, liver, ground chicken bones...then add the main meat as a rotation of either beef or pork, mixed with enough chicken thigh or breast meat to make the boneless meat ratio correct. I try to make sure I'm mixing fattier cuts and leaner cuts. (Fatty beef or pork with lean chicken breast, and lean red meats with fattier thigh meat.) Because of the price difference, the beef mixes usually have more boneless chicken than the pork mixes.

 

[daftcat75]

If your kitty likes beef, I say keep it in the rotation occasionally. A lot of cats don’t like red meat. But if you ever have to go to a truly novel protein (novel for all cats, not just yours), they all tend to be red meats. So making sure your kitty doesn’t lose his taste for red meat will make it easier to try new proteins with him. I wish my Krista ate red meat. I can get bison, boar, lamb, and venison at my local Sprouts. Frozen boneless grind for burgers but also perfect for a raw feeder without a grinder.

 

[orange&white]

• How often should I rotate after the transition period? Daily? Weekly? Per meal?

Forgot to mention that I make 10-day batches of food, with every batch of food a different mix. So I rotate about 3 times a month.

There's no hard and fast rule though. When I started feeding a raw diet to my cats in 2008, Dr. Pierson's recipe was only 100% chicken mix....so my first few years, those cats ate nothing but chicken. Better than processed food, but the current thinking is that rotating proteins will keep them from developing an intolerance to one protein...and keep them from getting bored. I have one cat who will not eat an all-chicken mix, so I started doing chicken+pork or chicken+beef a couple years ago. No more "all chicken" here.

Every cat's different. Raw is good as long as meat/bone/organ is balanced and there isn't an intolerance, or boredom.